


Origin of Symmetry

by Caracalliope



Series: obey obey obey submit submit submit comply comply comply [3]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Age Difference, Consent Issues, F/F, Forced Marriage, Hair Brushing, Implied/Referenced Incest, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Making The Best of a Bad Situation, Protectiveness, Selfcest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-23 12:54:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19701790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caracalliope/pseuds/Caracalliope
Summary: Jade receives a gift from her mother, the empress.





	Origin of Symmetry

Your little bride has fuzzy white wolf ears and a tail, and she's rigid with terror. If anything here was up to you, you’d take her away from the noise and the Crockercake, and you’d go for a walk under the stars. You would ask where her bodymods came from - you assume it has to be some form of gene-splicing, but you don’t know how scientifically advanced her dimension is. You don’t know anything about her at all, except that she’s you, and she’s seventeen, and she’s a gift from Mother. And when you don’t accept Mother’s gifts, she disposes of them.

So try not to look at little Jade, and you try not to look for Jake in the crowd. You think maybe this is the worst day of his life so far, and that’s one thing you can be proud of.

(He’s barely eighteen and there’s still something awkward and coltish in him, and you hope there always will be. With visible terror, he found the courage to ask:

“Gran, will the other Jade have to - will the Batterwitch force you - that is, there’s no need to lay the girl down, is there? To, um, importune her.”

You marveled at how damn good he stayed in this fucked-up world, and you marveled at the fact that a kid you raised could love euphemisms so much. And then you told him the truth. You’ll do whatever you need to, to keep her alive.

Jake had to understand, and you hope that he does now. Soon, Mother will give him someone to marry too. You just hope she doesn’t like him enough to find him someone from the family.)

The ceremony's nice enough, since Mother’s not in the mood for overt displays of power right now. But she’s watching you very closely. You put a hand on the back of Jade’s neck, and she parts her lips for you. She’s got tiny, adorable fangs, and you’re pretty sure it’s her first kiss.

You dance once, badly, and then you grab her hand and drag her away, before Mother can get any ideas. You think Mother doesn’t exactly know what human marriages entail - she had one herself, but it was a long time ago. Jade needs to be out of her line of sight.

The kid’s cold as a ghost and you sit her down on the edge of your new bed. You don’t think she’s going to make a dash for it - you hope not. The last thing you need is for Mother to hear your little wife’s been misbehaving.

You’ve got to get out of your tux. You hate the heavy, frilly white dress on the kid, and you suspect she does too, but that’s staying on her for now.

You murmur whatever and you flee to the bathroom. You peel off your jacket. Unbraiding your hair takes a while, and it stays wavy and shiny. Being on high heels strains your knees these days, but you wanted to dress up for your fucking wedding. You leave them on for now, and the pants stay, of course. You loosen your tie and roll up your sleeves. It’s not a bad look. You usually prefer to femme it up for events, but this was what felt right for the day.

Jade is still on the edge of the bed, looking like you’ll bite her head off if she moves. What did Mother say to her?

You sit down next to her, not too close, and match up your breathing to hers.

“What do you want me to call you?” Her voice is steady, but there’s a rasp in it that doesn’t sound familiar.

“Um, just whatever,” you say. “I’m sure the two Jade problem will work itself out.”

She nods quickly. When you were young and free, and then also when you were old but still free, you had a few lovers who wanted to call you ma’am, or mistress, or sir. You wonder how much of that is constant, across dimensions.

“I like your hair,” she says. “Did you ever cut it at all?”

“Parts of it? When it got singed or caught in things. I used to be too cool for basic lab safety, you know how that is.”

Jade smiles, even though there’s nothing charming about you right now, and then she reaches out. Her hand is smooth and cold against your cheek. You kiss her palm and then pull back, watching her. Her glasses are the same shape as yours, and you catch her gaze and hold it.

“Jade, you don’t have to be nice to me,” you tell her. “I’m on your side.”

She’s you and that means she'll always want to believe she’s not being lied to. But she also won’t accept an easy solution right away.

“The Empress said that if you don’t want me, she’ll take me,” she says. You wonder if she likes euphemisms too. “But you’re on my side?”

“I am. It cost me everything, Jade, but I kept my grandson safe from her, and I can keep you safe too. Please say you’ll let me.”

A frown of suspicion, one you’ve seen in the mirror before. “What do I need to do?”

“Nothing tonight. Eventually, we’ll have to have sex and let her know. I don’t know if she wants to watch - I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure.” You think Mother is too taken with her own toys, but you can’t promise it.

Jade looks at you, at your worn but unbent body and the scars on your cheek. She nods, once, and you know that’s all she needs to say.

“So what else did Mother tell you?” you ask, and you make sure to keep your body language relaxed.

“She said I reminded her of a servant she had in another life,” she says, and you finally find the thread of rage in her voice. “What does that even mean? Did she get reincarnated?”

“Ugh, probably?” You shrug. “I mean, no, she absorbs other dimensions. It’s all very gruesome and magical, I can show you my hypotheses later. I don’t know if she can rise up from the dead, and I don’t know if she can die.”

You reach over to the bedside table, and you find your hairbrush in the top drawer. Slow movements, lowered shoulders. Jade is wary, but she isn’t scared of you. You start preparing your hair for bed, and she’s not avoiding your gaze anymore.

“She also said that I can ‘be trained’, but um, I don’t know if she meant for you or for - ugh.”

You imagine what Mother might have meant by training, and you grip your brush harder. You’ll find out if she can die, as soon as you find a way to get Jake off the planet.

… And Jade too, now. Another way to control you is just what Mother wanted, but you’re going to love Jade anyway. Mother is the only one who deserves your resentment.

“I meant it, about your hair,” Jade says. “I wasn’t just being nice.”

“I like yours too.” You want to talk about the doggy ears, but you’re not sure if she’s self-conscious about them. Nine decades in the making, you’re starting to learn tact.

“I’m a mess,” she says, and her inky-black hair really is tangled and clumped. “She didn’t even let me keep my stuff. And my friends, she said she -”

Awkward as a kid, you offer her the brush. You’re the same person, so it’s not weird. She takes it, squeezes your hand briefly.

“Can I help?” It comes out a little too smooth, but she hands the brush back and sits all the way next to you. Is she scared of you after all, or if she just lonely?

You’ll have to start touching her sometime.

Her hair really is a mess, and you can take care of it for her later. You've got potions, that's what you've taken to calling them. But for now, you just treat it like your own - with care and patience, but not that much gentleness.

Jade is almost too quiet to hear when she asks, “She’s not my mom, right?”

“What?”

“The Empress,” she says, and her voice is a growl. “You called her your mom, and we’re the same person, but she’s not -”

“No,” you say. “No, not if she didn’t raise you.”

“Nobody raised me,” she says, just as a fact though it should be a point of pride.

“You should -” you clear your throat. “You’ll need to wash this out tomorrow, I think you got cake in it.” You wonder if Mother touched her, or fucked her, or hit her, but you don’t want to ask tonight.

“Yeah, I guess. Hey, do we just share this bed? It’s almost like being back home with Jadebot.” She says it like she’s inviting you to share a joke, but you don’t know what a Jadebot is, apart from the obvious.

“We can share anything you want,” you tell her instead, and she actually laughs at it even though you meant it.

“We’re not the most reassuring person ever,” she says. “We suck at reassuring.”

She’s probably right, but her grin _is_ reassuring. She's not against you, and she'll let you take care of her, at least tonight. She doesn't know you yet - at that age, you didn't know yourself - but she'll give you the chance to show her how far you are willing to go to make sure she is safe and loved. Jade curls up, pressing up against you, and you get back to untangling her hair.

**Author's Note:**

> The title comes from my staunch belief that every Jade is a Muse fan.


End file.
